Uncorking their love of books in Rockville Centre

Carol Hoenig, left, and Peggy Zieran are raising money to open a book store in Rockville Centre that will cater to the community and also serve wine for patrons.

Courtesy IndieGoGo

By Alex Costello

Peggy Zieran and Carol Hoenig have long dreamed of opening their own bookstore. And now, they are turning to the Internet to help that dream come true in Rockville Centre.

Zieran and Hoenig have turned to the crowdfunding website IndieGoGo to help raise the $150,000 that they’ll need to open Turn of the Corkscrew — their bookstore — in Rockville Centre.

“We have a passion for books, and there are no book stores around anymore,” Zieran said. “And the big box bookstores don’t have the same feel that small, independent bookstores have.”

The duo wants to recreate a small bookstore feel, but also offer more than just books. One of the main features of the store would be a small bar where patrons can order a glass of wine.

“When we go to a bookstore event at night, we don’t want a cup of coffee,” said Hoenig. “It would be nice to have a glass of wine.”

Zieran and Hoenig met many years ago when they both worked at the Borders bookstore in Syosset. Before it closed, Zieran became the manager of the store while Hoenig went on to work for the Borders corporate office. The two have always had a love of books, and Hoenig still works in the publishing industry.

“Within the last year or so … we’ve been seeing the independent book stores doing quite well,” said Hoenig. “People are looking for that community-feel bookstore.”

When they first started looking for prospective locations, the two were originally looking in Bellmore/Merrick area. But after taking a closer look, they saw that the area didn’t have the kind of foot traffic that they were hoping for. Then Zieran’s daughter recommended they look at Rockville Centre.

“We were just wowed by it,” Zieran said. “All the nice shops that have customers coming in and out, the pedestrian traffic. So we’re pretty settled on Rockville Centre.” Hoenig added that with Rockville Centre’s ease of access to New York City, book publishers would most likely be willing to set up events at the store with their authors.

The two want to make more than a bookstore — they’re hoping to make Turn of the Corkscrew into a community destination.

“Events will be geared around what the community wants to do,” said Zieran. “We want it to be a destination place for people in the neighborhood, even if they don’t want to buy a book. There will be something going on every night of the week.”

Zieran and Hoenig envision part of the store being an event space, even if it means putting some of the book shelves on rollers to move them out of the way.

“We want the community to feel it’s also their place to go to,” Hoenig said. “It’s a destination place.”

For more information about Turn of the Corkscrew, and to make a donation to the campaign, click here.